So Many Years Ago
by RomulusRemus
Summary: My version of how Kayura was kidnapped from her village. Can be slightly graphic (as in gore) at times.


Disclaimer: Look up disclaimer. Now ask yourself, what could I possibly have to say on this matter?  
  
A/N: I need to explain a little bit about this fic before you read it. I have changed THE Ancient One a bit. He's younger and has a family, though you won't hear very much of them in this fic, this is mostly about Kayura. Two of his sons are characters in the series, one of his sons and his daughter are the creations of my demented mind. Enjoy.  
  
The air whipped clean and clear around Kayura as she stood on the cliff overlooking her birthplace. If an outsider looked in now, they wouldn't understand that houses once stood here. That an evil crime so unspeakable was committed here. So unspeakable that Kayura herself didn't know what it was.  
  
All she knew was that she was home. Or what was left of it. She made her way down to the village she had grown up in and scooped a handful of soil into her hands. So many years. So many years ago…  
  
^^^  
"Kayura! Dinner!" Kayura jumped from her position by the dwindling fire and into the warm house. "Honey what are you doing outside? It's December!" Her mother asked as she sat down for dinner.  
  
Kayura blushed and looked down at her feet. "I like looking at the fire dancer."  
  
Kayura's mother made a noise of distaste. The fire dancer was the Ancient Ones' only daughter. She was a fascinating creature to many of the men of the village. And the children. Especially the children.   
  
She had an air about her the seemed to draw you in and hold you close. She was like a campfire on a night you'd been left out in the cold. Kayura would stay outside until all hours to see her dance. Sometimes she would see her in her backyard, right beyond the forest. Kayura empathized with her. They both came a family of all boys. But unlike Kayura's faithful mother, hers was never home. She didn't know her name. Fire dancer was good enough.  
  
Kayura finished her dinner quickly in hopes of seeing her before the sun set and her mother called her inside. She yelled a quick thanks to her mom and say back down at her now extinguished fire. She gave a sigh and decided to sit around in the cold instead going back in.   
  
And suddenly there she was. In front of the forest as Kayura had seen her many times before. But this time Kayura wanted to talk to her. She started her sad and lonely dance and Kayura quickly interrupted. "Fire dancer?"  
  
At first she did not reply. She only kept dancing. Slowly, painfully. "Excuse me?" Kayura persisted. She cast her eyes in Kayura's direction and Kayura felt a chill run down her spine. This girls eyes changed colors. With every movement she made her eyes shifted from red, to blue, to green and finally deciding stopped at blue.  
  
"Yes?" Her voice was light but filled with such a pain, young Kayura couldn't imagine. "What's your name?" Kayura asked cautiously.  
  
She looked at Kayura, a brief flash of yellow shifting through the blue. "Raven. My name is Raven, Kayura."  
  
"You know my name?"  
  
Raven cast her eyes to the sky. "So does the moon," and with that she started humming to herself and continuing her dance. "Tomorrow is Christmas Eve (fat chance the Ancients celebrated Christmas but work with me here)," Kayura said, as if she were revealing a little known fact.   
  
Raven stopped her movement and came close to Kayura. "Get away from here. Run away with your family. While there's still time," she grabbed Kayura's arms and whispered, "The end is coming."  
  
"But…" Raven turned around and walked into the woods and Kayura stood there puzzling over her words. And immediately Kayura had a question and she called out to the woods. "The end of what?" But there was no answer. Raven was gone.  
  
The day came and went and Kayura forgot Raven's warning and replaced them with the merriment of Christmas. She finished decorating the tree with her mother and stayed up late. She fell asleep around 11 on the coach by the window but was woken with a scream at midnight. She sat up and saw her mother at the door, her hand on her mouth. "What's wrong mom?" Kayura asked sleepily.   
  
"Someone screamed…" Kayura looked out the window and saw a crowd gathering around the village square. "A party!" She squealed in delight and ran from the house.   
  
"Kayura no!" Her mother called, but Kayura was already there. She pushed her way to the front of the crowd and gasped when she saw what everyone was looking at.   
  
In the newly fallen snow lay a woman, dead her blood leaking from her body, tracing designs on the snow. But the stunning sight was to the left of her. It was Raven. Her body hunched over blood dripping from her mouth. At her back parallel to her spine was the steel beam the supported Town Hall. She had flown through a window to it. Kayura would spend the rest of her life getting that image out of her head.   
  
Two years later  
  
"I love spring," Kayura declared to no one as she walked through the forest. The very beginning of the forest wasn't dangerous; it was when you got to the middle that you had to be worried. She reveled in the sight of the new wildflowers. And the birds. A beautiful cardinal, a sparrow, Raven…Raven? She stood in a small clearing staring at the sky. Kayura had heard rumors, awful rumors of what had happened that night.  
  
The most frequent, was that Raven had gone insane and had killed her mother who had been the first person to walk into the square that night. The Ancient One saw what she had done and to stop her he flung her against the nearest building. The blow should have killed her. A nurse working at the hospital where they were suppose to have pronounced her dead had come to her house once to talk to her mother. Kayura clearly remembered the conversation.  
  
"What about that poor little girl who was…in the building?" Kayura's mother asked.  
  
"Poor," the nurse scoffed. "That girl…is no girl. Everybody at the hospital thinks she's a demon and I have reason to believe it."  
  
"What?"  
  
"When she was brought to the hospital everyone thought she'd be dead. We ran a scan on her and she had no pulse, she wasn't breathing. Her father wanted her and her mother to have a traditional Ancient One funeral so we kept her uncovered and preformed the usual traditions. We cleaned her up as best we could and dressed her in Ancient One garb. Well Myra, when I went to check on her the next morning, to make sure everything was ready for the funeral she was standing there, in front of the mirror, admiring herself like she had been fine all along. But there was no way. She wasn't breathing Myra. Her heart stopped! She was dead!"  
  
"No…"  
  
"And that's not the worst of it. We told her father and you know, we thought he'd be ecstatic because hey he didn't loose both of the women in his life. We thought he'd be jumping off the ceiling. You know what he did Myra? He cursed! He demanded to see her. She spat in his face Myra, and he damn near cried. But he wasn't sad! He was angry! And he spoke in a different language to her. He asked us to leave and when we did we heard her screaming. I never saw her again Myra. I think he killed her…again."  
  
"You have to be mistaken…"  
  
"Nope, by the way did you hear what happened to Jade last night?"  
  
After that the conversation switched to Jade's love affair but Kayura looked at Raven now and she was stunned. "R-r-raven?"  
  
Raven spun around a flash of red in her eyes. "Kayura?" Her voice was no longer light and springful. It was dark but still filled with such unbearable pain.   
  
"You're alive!" Kayura exclaimed.  
  
Raven gave a hollow laugh and then her expression turned serious. "Why didn't you run like I told you?"  
  
"I didn't understand…what end was coming?"  
  
"The end to this civilization. An end to this way of life. Haven't you heard? King Herial has been overthrown."  
  
"No one can overthrow Herial. He posses the white armor!"  
  
"He possessed the white armor. Talpa's minions are still fresh in this world even if he is not."  
  
"But…"  
  
"Kayura, I speak to you now and I'm begging you to please head my warning. Talpa's men are heading this way, you must leave! Tell your family and the others," she looked away from Kayura and said softly. "He won't listen to me."  
  
"He?"  
  
Raven stared at Kayura and looked deep into her eyes. "Kayura you have my blessing and as long as you have it you will be safe, but you must try!"  
  
Kayura nodded and ran home. She reached her house in record time and searched for her mother. "MOM I HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO TELL YOU!!!"   
  
Her mother was at in the kitchen cooking dinner. "Tell me Kayura."  
  
"We have to…" A loud bang disrupted Kayura and her mother looked outside. "Oh my…" A rush of wind came by and ripped her head clear off her shoulders. Another image that would stay with Kayura forever.  
  
Kayura backed up in horror. "M-m-mother." She turned from the kitchen and ran out the front door. Talpa's infamous army was in the village burning everything. Body parts lay scattered in the street and Kayura saw people running by with, one hand, one arm, one eye.  
  
She huddled next to her house, her eyes taking in her future nightmares. All of a sudden a loud voice came from the heavens. "WHERE IS YOUR ANCIENT ONE NOW FOOLS? WHERE IS YOUR SAVIOR?"   
  
The screams of dying people ended and Kayura assumed everyone was gone, but the army remained in the village. So quickly…everything ended so quickly.  
  
She looked out at then and anger override her judgment. She ran out to them and screamed, "MURDERERS!!! MURDERERS!!! HOW DARE YOU!!!" Suddenly someone landed in front of her. His hair was pure black and his eyes…his eyes changed colors. "Raven?" She asked foolishly.  
  
He simply smiled and reached out to touch her. Everything went black.  
  
^^^  
Now Kayura looked out at the fertile soil. Fertile because of the bodies that had been left here. So many had died without recognition. She closed her eyes and said a silent goodbye to everyone that had died, so many years ago…  
  
Ta da. The end. :-D. 


End file.
